Life Cycles
The life expectancy of flying squirrels in the wild is about six years, but flying squirrels can live up to fifteen years in zoos. In the wild, flying squirrels are commonly eaten by predators, but in zoos, they are not subject to predation. The mortality rate in young flying squirrels is high because of predators and diseases. Predators of flying squirrels include tree snakes, raccoons, owls, martens, fishers, coyotes, bobcats, and feral cats. In the Pacific Northwest of North America, the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis) is a common predator of flying squirrels.
Flying squirrels are usually nocturnal, since they are not adept at escaping birds of prey that hunt during the daytime. Flying squirrels eat according to what kind of an environment they are in. They are omnivorous, and will eat whatever kinds of food they can find. The North American Southern Flying Squirrel eats seeds, insects, gastropods (slugs and snails), spiders, shrubs, flowers, fungi, and tree sap.
Read more about this topic: Flying Squirrel
Famous quotes containing the words life and/or cycles:
“My life is superficial, takes no root in the deep world; I ask, When shall I die, and be relieved of the responsibility of seeing a Universe which I do not use? I wish to exchange this flash-of-lightning faith for continuous daylight, this fever-glow for a benign climate.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The stars which shone over Babylon and the stable in Bethlehem still shine as brightly over the Empire State Building and your front yard today. They perform their cycles with the same mathematical precision, and they will continue to affect each thing on earth, including man, as long as the earth exists.”
—Linda Goodman (b. 1929)